And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am.If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
18 sermons cite this verse
… If it were not so, I would have told you. place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, you may be also. Well, they were troubled and were troubled. We live in such a troubled world right now. The onslaught of technology has only added to that. Some research has found that today's average young person is reporting more anxiety than the average psychiatric patient did back in the 1950s. We're under a new kind of stress. But to that generation, to our generation, to every generation, Jesus says, let not your hearts be troubled. And now he shifts gears. Go to John 14, verse 16. I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. The spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you a little longer and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. And because I live, you will live also. Now he elaborates on it. …
… If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know, and the way you know. And Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. And how can we know the way? And Jesus said to him, best news ever. I am the way, the truth, and the life. no one comes to the father except through me and father we receive your word into our hearts Lord, would you allow the soil of our hearts to be soft to your word today? We don't want it to just land on top. We don't want it to even just land an inch below. We want it to go deep into the soil of our hearts, that it would do exactly what you want it to do in us, for us, through us, for your glory. …
… In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going. Now, Thomas was pretty smart, one of the apostles. He realized Jesus was giving them some pretty important information, so they better get it right. So Thomas asked the question, said, Lord, we don't even know where you're going. Apparently he hadn't listened that closely to what Jesus said. Jesus had told him, I'm going to the father's house to build a place for you. But he said, Jesus, we don't know where you're going. And furthermore, we don't know the way. Well, Jesus would later explain more about where he was going before he ascended into heaven. But he took the opportunity right then to say to Thomas, You want to know the way to this new place I'm going to and that I'm going to take you? …
… If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Thomas said unto Jesus Lord we don't know where you're going we don't know the way and Jesus said I am the way I am the truth I am the life no one comes to the Father except through me I'm betting my life he was telling the truth what are you betting your life on you better have better odds if you've never opened your life to Christ you need to do it now and if you have opened your life to Christ what on earth are you doing for heaven's sake what are you doing now to prepare for the inevitable heaven even when you know where you're going the vast majority of people pay no attention to the eternity issue they're living 100% for here and now which is a total waste. …
… And if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. Revelation 3.10. Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on it. Right? And finally this, 1 Thessalonians 4, 17 and 18. You read it tonight. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. So, the alarm went off. We're done. Really, it just did. Right there. Amazing. Lord tonight we could say can you wait till after the shaved ice or the hot dogs or whatever but when we stop to realize that your Bible makes an announcement to us that eye has not seen, ear has not heard nor has it entered in the minds of man the things that God has preferred for those who love him the very next verse but God has shown them to us for he has given us the mind of Christ Lord, we can't wait to see you. …
… in my father's house are many dwelling places if it were not so i would have told you for i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also. Look at the verbs. I go. I will come again. I will receive you to myself. What's it saying? Well, it's saying that the Lord is going to leave. While he's gone, he's going to be engaged in a construction project. And when he finishes, he's going to come back and take us to be in that new project called heaven. Now, let me give you the principle and then we'll talk about it. Here it is. While preparing a place for us, the Lord is preparing us for that place. Two construction projects. Not only is he building heaven, he's building you, child of God. And part of the construction project includes affliction, hardship, death, pain, and even failure. …
Jesus said in John 14, If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. The highlight of heaven throughout all eternity will be the very presence of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. What wonderful things God has in store for those who love him. What should our response be to all this goodness God has stored up for us? Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, verse 12, Rejoice, Christian, rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. God wants us to rejoice. He wants us to be glad as we anticipate all that he has in store. Christian, the best is yet to come. And it could be coming soon. Any day now, that trumpet could blow and the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, the Bible says, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. …
… to go. Jesus said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. That's key, to receive you to myself. That what? Look at it. That where I am, there you may be also. There's no mistaking this. This is not the first coming. It is not the second coming. It is Jesus Christ appearing and the twinkling of an eye event. And those who are alive in that moment will be transformed in that instant. The dead in Christ will rise first and we will meet them in the air with the Lord, that's what the Bible teaches. You say, I've never heard that before. Again, you should read your Bible. But I anticipated your question tonight. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13. They're all the same event. 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 13. …
… If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also. Listen, no rapture, no new home. It's simple. Jesus said, I'm leaving. I'm going to prepare a place. I'm going to come back and pick you up. And I'm going to take you there. Crystal clear. Why would somebody have a problem with this? well my pastor or my priest or my pope or my my bishop or my how about my bible told me that's a way better way to go everybody Yeah, wow. And then here's the how. The how. Philippians 3, verse 20, 21. For our citizenship, the word in Greek is politics. Huh. You said I don't get involved in politics. Oh, yes, you do. For our politics is in heaven. Here's the way I look at it. If my politics is in heaven, I'm waiting for my king to return. …
… in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions, places to dwell, dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there, you may be also. I tell you, that's great news. And where I go, you know, and the way you know, but Thomas, he's the doubter. By the way, Thomas, anybody remember the other label that's applied to Titus? It's not his last name. But another part of the gospel, it says Thomas Didymus. And it means the twin. Thomas the twin. Thomas had a twin brother. We don't know who, where, we don't know anything about him. But it's funny that the Greek word is Didymus. and Thomas, did he miss what Jesus was saying? He's always doubting everything. It's like Peter's like, what's wrong with you? Did you miss what he just said? …
… Jesus said in John 14, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. That where I am, there you will be also. the dead in Christ will rise first. Look, we're finishing this chapter. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up. People say the word rapture isn't even in the Bible. Well, that all depends which Bible you're reading. Is it in the English translation of the Bible? No. Is it in the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible from 400 AD? Yes. Which was the main Bible until the time of the Reformation. Translated by Jerome into Latin. And he uses the word here, rapio. He uses the word or a derivative of it, raptured, caught up. The word is harpazo in the Greek, and it means to be snatched immediately, even violently by force. It's translated to pluck, to snatch in several different places in the New Testament. So the concept of the rapture is New Testament. …
His will be the kingdom and the glory and the power forever. The promise was given in John 14, verse three. I'm leaving, but I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, you may be also. And just as the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Jewish nation was given all these signs, I just showed them to you. Royal genealogy, Gentile receptivity, right? Prophetic fulfillment, all of that. So listen to me, we have been given the signs of the times. We should know to wax up our board, so to speak, when it comes to certain things that should be happening if there's gonna be snow that's on the way and a powder day on the horizon. So what would the signs of the times be? Now we can look at Matthew chapter 24. We can look at, and you wanna jot these down and read them further, Daniel chapter 12, Ezekiel chapter 37 and 38, Joel chapter two. And from them compile some of the things that we should expect to be going on at the earth increasingly so as Christ's return draws nigh, draws near. …
… It says this. to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you may also be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said, Lord, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way? And Jesus answered, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. I want to ask you a question. Have you ever had those moments or those times where someone asks you, how are you doing? How are you? And our natural response is what? I'm fine. I'm good. I'm good. But the truth is this. You're not good. you know that you're not good on the inside, that you're functioning and you're performing, but you're not fine. …
… You believe in God, believe also in me. My father's house has many rooms. If it were not so, what I have told you that I'm going to there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and I'll take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am. You know the place to where I'm going. Start hearing the language, right? Of why Jesus made that big, bold statement. But I really can't talk about John 14 verse two. My father's house has many rooms without mentioning the song. I apologize. Anybody grow up in youth group, grow up singing the song? Is it in your head yet? No? It's a big, big house with lots and lots of rooms. A big, no, a few people? Oh, you got the motions gone over here. Okay. Like taking it to another level, playing football, right? Yeah. Like some of you are like, man, Christians are weird, you know? And we are. We grew up singing this song about the big, big house of Jesus, where we play football and a big, big table with lots and lots of food. It's a fun song and it's a memorable song. But if I actually think more about it, the focus, the way I focus on this verse is often misplaced. And even some of the old translations would use the word mansion and not prepare a place. Some translations use dwelling place or rooms. Jesus said, I'm going to prepare …
… If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. That's very important. You know what that means? Jesus is saying, I'm going away. I'm going to prepare a place for you and then I'm going to come back and get you at verse 3. Let me read verse 3 because verse 3 says and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also. That's profound and powerful. Jesus is saying I'm going away. I'm preparing a place and I'm going to come back and get you. And that's a significant deal that we believe in the rapture. We believe that one day Jesus is coming back to take us out of here. Amen. Now, my kids always, if they call their mother, they call her cell phone, she don't answer. They call her cell phone, she don't answer. They call her house, she don't answer. …
… In my Father's house are many rooms, and if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me, that you also may be where I am." Do you hear what Jesus is saying? He's saying, you can't follow Me now, but I'm going to My Father's house, and I'm going there to prepare a place for you so that where I am, you can be also. And there's going to come a moment when I'm going to bring you to that place where I am." Now, the thing that gives me the most comfort about these words of Jesus is this. In the middle of this promise where He said, I'm going to prepare a place for you, He gives a parenthetic statement that comforts my soul. He said, if it were not so, I would have told you. …
… If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. You know what happens? Good shepherd, when he was resurrected from the grave and ascended to the Father, preparation for what? The place you and I are going to spend eternity. The good shepherd following us all the days of our life is goodness and mercy. And then when he chooses to take us home, he says what? He who has always prepared everything on time down here is already preparing a place where you're not going to spend eternity. Now, let me ask you a question. If you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, what assurance do you have? You don't have the good shepherd. You can't say, I shall not want. You can't say, I'm always led in green pastures and still waters. Does that mean He never leads us into difficulties? No, because you see, going through the valleys, the dark valleys for the shadow of death, those things that appear to be dangerous to us, He's the one who's leading us through the valley. And sometimes you make your own valley, you get out of God's will. …
If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go you know, and the way you know. But Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest. And he says, And how can we know the way? And Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. If you had known me, you should have known my Father also. And from henceforth ye know him and have seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and we'll be satisfied. It sufficeth us. Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And how sayest thou then, show us the Father? …